Allan Holdsworth - Velvet Darkness

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1976
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 30:03
Size: 69,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:23)  1. Good Clean Filth
(2:46)  2. Floppy Hat
(4:21)  3. Wish
(3:06)  4. Kinder
(4:43)  5. Velvet Darkness
(3:10)  6. Karzie Key
(1:37)  7. Last May
(4:54)  8. Gattox

This debut solo release by Allan Holdsworth has an "in the raw," coarsely presented, jam-session quality complete with warts and all, as well as real gems of jazz fusion shining through. A first hearing of this release in its vinyl version might provoke laughter at how really bad it sounds compared to Holdsworth's other releases as well as his playing with other groups. As it turns out, Holdsworth himself abhors this release (considering it "a real terrible disaster"), and has taken legal action and had it removed from production for several reasons. The original label used rehearsal tapes to compile it, deeming it unnecessary to finance real sessions. During the recording session, Holdsworth had to hurry through each song and apparently never obtained the masters to go over before release. In essence, the original release was nothing more than a taped rehearsal, packaged by CTI as an album without Holdsworth's permission. This recording has been bootlegged by label after label, none of the musicians involved ever saw any royalties, and no legal paperwork exists. (The recording's known labels and release/re-release dates include CTI Records [1976], King Records [1976], Epic Associated Records [CD, 1990], King Records [Japanese-only CD, 1994], and CTI Records [Japanese-only CD, 1997]. Velvet Darkness was also released in 1997 on an unknown label in Japan as a bootleg CD; an original copy of the vinyl LP album had been transferred to the CD.) This 1990 release with alternate takes (just more pieces dredged up from the jam-session practice tapes) is indeed an interesting snapshot of young stellar musicians doing their thing in a laid-back but energetic fusion-funk-rock groove. It is for all the above reasons that this is indeed a completist/collectors item nowadays. Included are the now very rare recordings of Holdsworth playing acoustic guitar and violin, which he does very well. The alternate take of "Gattox" is a special treat, featuring Holdsworth soloing with an intensity and emotive power that echoes all the best dynamics jazz fusion could offer in the '70s. Obtaining this release second-hand is probably the only and most proper way to find it now. ~ John W.Patterson https://www.allmusic.com/album/velvet-darkness-mw0000204270

Personnel: Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Violin, Written-By – Allan Holdsworth;  Bass – Alphonse Johnson;  Drums – Narada Michael Walden;  Piano – Alan Pasqua

Velvet Darkness

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Allan Holdsworth & Gordon Beck - The Things You See - Sunbird

Styles: Guitar And Piano Jazz
Year: 1979
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:42
Size: 161,5 MB
Art: Front

( 4:49)  1. Golden Lakes
( 2:56)  2. Stop Fiddlin'
( 4:32)  3. The Things You See
( 8:17)  4. Diminished Responsability
(11:59)  5. She's Lookin', I'm Cookin'
( 3:18)  6. At The Edge
( 3:47)  7. Up Country
( 2:45)  8. The Gathering
( 6:21)  9. Halfway House
( 5:03) 10. Sunbird
( 6:49) 11. Second Summer

Allan Holdsworth has long been considered a brilliant guitarist who, although most of his career has been spent playing rock, has always had a strong interest in jazz and playing his instrument like a keyboard. He teams up with his longtime musical partner pianist-keyboardist Gordon Beck on the quartet date The Things You See/Sunbird, performing the seven songs originally released as The Things You See plus four other selections. Beck is actually featured at least as much as Holdsworth, some of the briefer selections are mere throwaways that end before they seem to get going, and the overall music is not as memorable as one would hope. Still there are some bright moments, close interplay, and a few sparks felt along the way. It isn't a classic but this release should interest Holdsworth fans who wish to hear him in a different context than usual. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-things-you-see-sunbird-mw0001884531

Personnel:  Allan Holdsworth – vocals, guitar, electric violin;  Gordon Beck – Rhodes piano, piano

The Things You See - Sunbird

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Allan Holdsworth - All Night Wrong

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:57
Size: 131,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:48)  1. Lanyard Loop
(6:53)  2. The Things You See
(7:04)  3. Alphrazallan
(5:01)  4. Funnels
(9:19)  5. Zone
(5:30)  6. Water On The Brain, Pt. 2
(8:21)  7. Above & Below
(7:58)  8. Gas Lamp Blues

Guitar hero Allan Holdsworth often performs with his peers. Such is the case with this live setting recorded at a venue in Japan during a 2002 tour. On this release, the guitarist leads a trio featuring longtime musical associates, drummer Chad Wackerman, and bassist Jimmy Johnson. To that end, the respective musicians' talents are well-known entities. Wackerman and Johnson can handle the trickiest time signatures imaginable. Along with the nimble flexibilities and odd-metered excursions witnessed here, they exude a force of power that serves as a meaty foundation for Holdsworth's mighty licks. 

A wonderfully recorded album, Holdsworth's climactically driven legato-based riffs are intact, as he also implements jazzy chord voicings and delicately stated fabrics of sound. But the trio raises the ante throughout many of these pieces, awash with moments of nuance and controlled firepower. In sum, Holdsworth's legion of followers should be pleased with a recording that should rank among his finest efforts to date. ~ Glenn Astarita https://www.allmusic.com/album/all-night-wrong-mw0000316616

Personnel:   Allan Holdsworth – guitar;  Chad Wackerman – drums;   Jimmy Johnson – bass

All Night Wrong

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Allan Holdsworth - None Too Soon

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:46
Size: 116.2 MB
Styles: Fusion
Year: 1996
Art: Front

[3:07] 1. Countdown
[5:38] 2. Nuages
[5:27] 3. How Deep Is The Ocean
[5:40] 4. Isotope
[7:42] 5. None Too Soon, Pts. 1 & 2
[5:53] 6. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
[7:40] 7. Very Early
[3:21] 8. San Marcos
[6:14] 9. Inner Urge

For his ninth album, guitar wizard Allan Holdsworth takes on jazz classics by saxophonists John Coltrane and Joe Henderson, pianist Bill Evans and more, plus pop classics just as famous for their jazz interpretations, in a set put together by Holdsworth's longtime musical associate and pianist, Gordon Beck. "Gordon chose most of the tunes, which I hadn't grown up playing and so wasn't that familiar with," Holdsworth recalls. "When he taught me one, it would be just like I was learning a piece of original music."

Holdsworth pops the top off of None Too Soon (recorded in 1996 but remastered to take advantage of 2012's digital technology) with a frantic electric guitar introduction to Coltrane's "Countdown" that screams out "Mahavishnu Orchestra"! After he settles into a more measured approach, the sound of Holdsworth's synthesizer-guitar flows between jazz-rock, jazz and progressive rock in a single voice, like different aspects of the same musical continuum. Holdsworth and Beck modernize Django Reinhardt's emotive classic "Nuages" with harmonized synth-axe and keyboards which shift and rock upon subtle pulses from the rhythm section of bassist Gary Willis bass and drummer Kirk Covington, cohorts in the jazz-rock fusion institution Tribal Tech. "How Deep Is the Ocean" sounds nothing like the Irving Berlin ballad: Beck uses it as a framework for him and Holdsworth to rock out and jam while bass and drums toss its powerful rhythms back and forth like waves rocking the ocean. Beck's original title suite ("None Too Soon Part One / Interlude / None Too Soon Part Two") is well-considered and articulate in design and execution.

"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" paints an impressionistic watercolor of The Beatles' brooding, timeless classic in soft but bright guitar chords that more than once suggest Pat Metheny in sound and structure; after Beck brilliantly plays the acoustic piano role of Lyle Mays, Holdsworth's electric guitar roars back in and shreds this "Wood" to splinters. Holdsworth's meandering but profoundly emotional sound that opens "Very Early," written by Bill Evans, also suggests Metheny in a ruminative mood, while Beck spreads out a bright, dynamic acoustic piano solo like a blanket through the rest of the tune. Holdsworth takes a bop-oriented approach to Joe Henderson's "Isotope," twisting and elongating melodic phrases like a sharp John Scofield, and, after another sparkling Beck solo, returns for a closing solo that explodes with the bright yet brittle metallic edge of harder rock guitar.

Allan Holdsworth: guitar and synthaxe; Gordon Beck: digital piano, keyboards; Gary Willis: bass guitar; Kirk Covington: drums.

None Too Soon

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Various - Come Together: Guitar Tribute To The Beatles

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 58:42
Size: 136.1 MB
Label: NYC Music
Styles: Album rock, Alternative rock, Guitar jazz
Year: 1993
Art: Front

[4:51] 1. Mark Whitfield - Come Together
[6:04] 2. Toninho Horta - She's Leaving Home
[5:54] 3. Ralph Towner - Here, There, And Everywhere
[8:19] 4. Steve Khan - Within You, Without You/Blue Jay Way
[5:13] 5. Zachary Breaux - Eleanor Rigby
[2:16] 6. Adrian Belew - Blackbird
[5:24] 7. John Abercombie - And I Love Her
[4:54] 8. Allan Holdsworth - Michelle
[5:53] 9. Leni Stern - Norwegian Wood
[5:41] 10. Larry Coryell - Something
[4:09] 11. Toots Thielemans - Yesterday

Strictly speaking, this isn't just a guitar tribute to the Beatles, although stringed instruments that are plucked, strummed, and otherwise manipulated are in abundance, representing styles and sounds that will recall Django Reinhardt at one moment and the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the next. Toots Thielemans adds some astonishingly tasteful harmonica (and whistling) to "Yesterday" and Thomas Dawson's organ is almost a lead instrument on "Come Together." But it's the guitars (plus some superb bass) that make up the core of this delightful recording. Larry Coryell, Steve Khan, Ralph Towner, Adrian Belew, John Abercrombie, Allan Holdsworth, Toninho Horta (whose Brazilian-flavored rendition of "She's Leaving Home" is worth the price of admission by itself), and others do what they do best, and the results are revelatory and dazzlingly entertaining. This reviewer's favorite cut was Khan's medley of "Within You, Without You/Blue Jay Way," but that's just because it's that much more unexpected than anything else here. Mark Whitfield's lead work on the title cut, which is also the leadoff track, sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the CD, but everyone clears it and then some, each in his own way. One only wishes there'd been a follow-up album. ~Bruce Eder

Come Together: Guitar Tribute To The Beatles

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